‘Vaal communities demand accountability from polluter ArcelorMittal at its shareholder meeting’ 30 June 2020

Today, at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of steel-producing giant and serial polluter ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA), environmental justice organisations Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA) and groundWork, supported by attorneys from the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), are demanding accountability from AMSA for its environmental violations, and its lack of transparency and adequate community consultation. AMSA will face pressure inside its virtual shareholder meeting with questions posed by representatives of VEJA as well as CER lawyers as registered shareholders of AMSA. Outside of the AGM, community activists will voice their experiences of AMSA’s pollution and raise awareness of the immense impact which air, water and soil pollution has on their lives and the lives of their children. Media observers have been refused admission to the AGM, despite the fact that AMSA is a publicly listed company facing issues of significant public interest.

…This is not an easy situation. While surrounding communities are impacted by pollution on a daily basis, they now face the prospect of job losses. Due to their past exposure to air pollution, they are also more vulnerable and susceptible to COVID-19. While its parent company in Europe is making progress towards reforming its operations, having recently obtained a EUR 75m EIB loan to scale up breakthrough technology to reduce carbon emissions, no such efforts are being made by AMSA here in South Africa. Here, AMSA has failed to implement adequate measures to reform its operations in way that ensures compliance with environmental laws, prevents harm to people’s health and well-being, and that is environmentally sustainable. 

…Communities living in the Vaal Triangle Airshed Priority Area have long suffered the deadly environmental effects of its air pollution, and remain vocal about the harmful impact of air and other pollution on their health, and the infringement of their Constitutional right to a healthy environment. AMSA is also South Africa’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter, significantly contributing to climate change.  The CER’s Full Disclosure 5 Report places AMSA as the worst performer out of all the emitters assessed in the 2019 report and the company has no strategy to address those risks.  AMSA’s GHG emissions compared to 2018 remain high (12Mt compared 14.48Mt the previous year), and any reduction was only due to less steel being produced.